Baekdu-san used as Symbolsthe sacred "White-Head Mountain" of the Northused as a symbol of Korea's national aspirations(sometimes together with Jeju-do's Halla-san)

Baekdu-san has been important to Korea's sense of identity and prosperity in most eras of its history, from the Goguryeo Kingdom thru the unified dynasties until today.

From the Goryeo Dynasty histories:When the mystical Buddhist/Daoist monk Myocheong raised a significant rebellion around 1130 (mostly based on his advocacy of moving the capital northwards to achieve a superior position according to his Pungsu-jiri readings) and had a new palace built in Pyeongyang, some Confucian scholars supporting him approved of his constructing eight shrines for nation-protecting/benefiting "Immortals", and advocated that the Spirits of Baekdu-san and Taebaek-san be the first ones enshrined.

Baekdu-san is sometimes paired with Halla-sanon Jeju-do Island as an eum-yang (yin-yang) dyad(sometimes with a male-female-couple motif implied)representing Korean aspirations for national re-unification, due to their coincidental status as the nothernmost and southernmost of the country's mountains (both are among the most-sacred mountains of the entire nation), and that they are both extinct volcanoes (the only ones in Korea) -- both with lakes in their summit-craters (although the Baekrok-dam [White-Deer Pond] atop Halla is tiny compared to Cheonji-ho). The fact that Baekdu-san and Baekrok-dam both begin with the character "Baek" (the sacred color White) is also sometimes used for meaningful parallelism.

Baekdu-san is regarded as the holiest of mountains to most Koreans, due to its being the highest peaks on the peninsula, its location at the head of the Baekdu-daegan Mountain-System and its remakable topography -- particularly the "Cheonji-ho" [Heaven-Earth Lake] in its summit-crater. Therefore images of that lake surrounded by a circle of peaks are frequently used as symbols of Korea's national aspirations -- especially re-unification, but also national independence, prosperity, unique identity, strength / power, and so on. This iconic trend started in the early 20th Century and grows ever more pervasive -- it is rare to find a government or commercial building that does not have a portrait of the peak of this mighty summit hanging in it!

Here, it is carved in stone as background to the main statue (of age-old Korean dedication to national sovereignty) at the country's primary Independence Hall in Cheonan City, South Chungcheong Province.

Also there in the Independence Hall, in its display of Korea's early history, a typical photograph of Baekdu-san Cheonji-ho is used as backdrop for a reproduction of the gigantic stone stele of Great King Gwanggaeto even though its site (in Manchuria, marking the extent of his Goguryeo Kingdom and proclaiming the virtues of his rule, which was 391-413 CE) is not very close to this mountain.

An echo of ancient Korean San-shin and Heaven-worshipping ceremonies, from the Korea Herald in September 2002. The women above are dressed as "Bi-seon" [flying immortals, or Angels], aka "Seon-nyeo" [immortal girls], which frequently appear in San-shin paintings, folk-tales and Buddhist art (see pages 81-91 in my book). This is a good example of Halla-san and Baekdu-san being paired in reunification-oriented ritual, art and event-rhetoric in modern Korea.

Left: Paired girl-boy torch-bearers named after these two mountains enter the Asian Games Stadium in Busan City. "Baek" [white] is actually a family name in Korea, so their "names" (see caption) don't seem too strange... It's always good to see this kind of continuity of sacred-mountain traditions, used in modern social and political events...

Baekdu-san is also very frequently used in the official iconography of North Korea. In Pyeongyang City, capital of the DPRK, it is the background for the gargantuan bronze statue of "Great Leader and Eternal President" Kim Il-sung.

The Korea Herald newspaper, on July 1st 2005:

Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il on the peak of Baekdu-san in an idealized inspirational-propaganda painting entitled "The Way Forward".

Of course, the main usage of Baekdu-san as a nationalist symbol in South Korea is as the "Taebaek-san" of the Gaecheon-jeol Myth, as the birthplace of its Founding-King Dan-gun Wanggeom.

North Korean 2000 won bills depict the "secret camp" beneath "Jongil-bong" Peak (upper left) where, according to their propaganda myth, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il was born during his father's guerrilla-war against the Japanese colonialists, and a view of Baekdu-san itself (right). The 1000 won bills below depict Kim Il-sung's birthplace in Pyeongyang, in parallel.

it is also a popular nationalistic subject for painters traditional & modern, south & north.This is "Lake of Mt. Baekdu" by Bang In-su, 2008.

In a revolutionary-leftist mural from the1986-1992 political turbulence, stillseen on Kyung Hee University's StudentUnion Building, the enraged maleactivist-student is depicted as risingup out of Baekdu-san's crater-lake.

Baekdu-san Whiskey!! bottle generously brought to me by friend & partner Roger Shepherd from his spring 2012 trip to the DPRK.It actually claims to be a blueberry liquor (a brandy?), but there is no fruit taste to it at all. Color is like whiskey.It's certainly not good whiskey or brandy, but it is indeed liquor... maybe the world's least-known brand?

Announcement from the DPRK official media:

Paektusan General Museum to Be BuiltJul. 10, Juche 101 (2012) Tuesday

The Paektusan (Mt. Paektu) General Museum will be constructed in the Samjiyon district. It will give a widerange of knowledge as a center for education in the revolutionary traditions comprehensively showing therevolutionary relics and the grand nature in the area around Mt. Paektu.

The great General Kim Jong Il said that the explorers and visitors should know the immortal revolutionaryexploits of the peerlessly great persons and the lofty love for the fatherland of the anti-Japanese revolutionaryforerunners and everybody, if he or she is Korean, should have knowledge of Mt. Paektu. The visitors willdeeply realize once again the validity of these words through their inspection of the museum.

Officials, researchers and employees of the Central Commanding Office of the Shock Brigade 618, theRevolutionary Relics Administration Guidance Bureau, various institutes under the State Academy ofSciences, the History Institute under the Academy of Social Sciences, the Central Information Agencyfor Science and Technology, General Exploration Party on Lake Chon on Mt. Paektu, the Paektu Museumteam and many other units are making every sincere effort to build the general museum well.

Correspondent Jon Chol Ju

the famously-lovely Samjiyeon Lake at Baekdu-san's SW foot, on a South Korean stamp

Korean Green Tea Master Chae Won-hwa conducting a tea ceremony on theshore of Cheonji Lake at the peak of Baekdu-san in 2005.

Wall-painting near Baekdu-san depicting the myth of Kim Jong-il having been born in acabin at Baekdu-san, a crucial part of NK's leader-family mythology, with a non-Koreancouple laying flowers at it while a NK agent films them for propaganda purposes.